Systems and methods of LED color overlap

ABSTRACT

The disclosed systems and methods emphasize driving LEDs in series and in parallel with the same LED driver chip and a single inductor. For creating overlap, the systems and methods of LED color overlap disclosed herein take advantage of the fact that green and blue LEDs have the same voltage. Thus, green and blue LEDs can be driven in parallel as needed. LED suppliers can screen parts for sufficiently close voltage matching between green and blue LEDs. This is especially true when using green LED die based on a blue die with a green phosphor. Cyan may be produced by driving a green LED and a blue LED in parallel. White may produced by driving a green LED and a blue LED in parallel and a red LED in series with this green and blue parallel pair.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a continuation of U.S. Nonprovisionalapplication Ser. No. 13/189,490, filed Jul. 23, 2011 (now U.S. Pat. No.9,392,662), which is incorporated herein by reference in its entiretyfor all purposes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure is generally related to light emitting diodes(LEDs) and, more particularly, is related to LED drivers.

BACKGROUND

A light-emitting diode is a semiconductor light source. LEDs are used asindicator lamps in many devices and are increasingly used for otherlighting. Introduced as a practical electronic component in 1962, earlyLEDs emitted low-intensity red light; but modern versions are availableacross the visible, ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths, with very highbrightness.

When a light-emitting diode is forward biased (switched on), electronsare able to recombine with electron holes within the device, releasingenergy in the form of photons. This effect is called electroluminescenceand the color of the light (corresponding to the energy of the photon)is determined by the energy gap of the semiconductor. An LED is oftensmall in area (less than 1 mm2), and integrated optical components maybe used to shape its radiation pattern. LEDs present many advantagesover incandescent light sources including lower energy consumption,longer lifetime, improved robustness, smaller size, faster switching,and greater durability and reliability. LEDs powerful enough for roomlighting are relatively expensive and require more precise current andheat management than compact fluorescent lamp sources of comparableoutput.

Light-emitting diodes are used in applications as diverse asreplacements for aviation lighting, automotive lighting (particularlybrake lamps, turn signals and indicators) as well as in traffic signals.The compact size, the possibility of narrow bandwidth, switching speed,and extreme reliability of LEDs has allowed new text and video displaysand sensors to be developed, while their high switching rates are alsouseful in advanced communications technology. Infrared LEDs are alsoused in the remote control units of many commercial products includingtelevisions, DVD players, and other domestic appliances. Recent strideshave been accomplished in introducing LEDs into projectors, includingdigital light processing projectors. LED Drivers in projectors thatsupport color overlap for yellow, cyan, magenta, and white, using red,green, and blue LEDs, normally require three LED driver chips so thattwo LEDs can be driven at the same time. For example, to achieve yellow,the red LED driver and green LED driver are enabled at the same time.The three LED driver chips, and the three inductors to go with them, areexpensive and large in size. This is an issue, especially in smallpico-projectors such as those embedded in cell phones. Therefore, thereare heretofore unaddressed needs with previous solutions.

SUMMARY

Example embodiments of the present disclosure provide systems of LEDcolor overlap. Briefly described, in architecture, one exampleembodiment of the system, among others, can be implemented as follows: acontroller module configured to be connected to a plurality of lightemitting diodes (LEDs), the LEDs emitting a plurality of individualcolors, the controller further configured to drive at least two of theplurality of LEDs simultaneously to achieve a color not supplied by anindividual LED of the plurality of LEDs.

Embodiments of the present disclosure can also be viewed as providingmethods for LED color overlap. In this regard, one embodiment of such amethod, among others, can be broadly summarized by the following steps:receiving a signal that selects a color; and configuring light emittingdiodes (LEDs) to be driven in combination simultaneously to achieve aselected color.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of an example embodiment of a prior artcircuit for driving LEDs.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of an example embodiment of a system for LEDcolor overlap.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of an example embodiment of the registersused to set current in the circuit of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram of an example embodiment of the controllogic used in the system for LED color overlap of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of an example embodiment of a method of LEDcolor overlap.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described more fullyhereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings in which likenumerals represent like elements throughout the several figures, and inwhich example embodiments are shown. Embodiments of the claims may,however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construedas limited to the embodiments set forth herein. The examples set forthherein are non-limiting examples and are merely examples among otherpossible examples.

Basically, any color light, and even white light, can be formed bymixing differently colored lights; the most common method is to use red,green and blue (RGB). A device used to create white light may be calleda multi-colored white LED (sometimes referred to as a Red Green BlueLED). Because these need electronic circuits to control the blending anddiffusion of different colors, they have not been regularly used toproduce white lighting. Nevertheless, this method is particularlyinteresting in many uses because of the flexibility of mixing differentcolors, and, in principle, this mechanism also has higher quantumefficiency in producing white light. Two common semiconductor materialsused to make LEDs are aluminum gallium arsenide (AlGaAs) for red LEDsand indium gallium nitride (InGaN) for blue and green LEDs. ConventionalLEDs are made from a variety of inorganic semiconductor materials. Thefollowing table shows the available colors vs. materials:

TABLE 1 Color Wavelength [nm] Voltage [V] Semiconductor materialInfrared λ > 760 ΔV < 1.9 Gallium arsenide (GaAs) Aluminium galliumarsenide (AlGaAs) Red 610 < λ < 760 1.63 < ΔV < 2.03 Aluminium galliumarsenide (AlGaAs) Gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP) Aluminium galliumindium phosphide (AlGaInP) Gallium(III) phosphide (GaP) Orange 590 < λ <610 2.03 < ΔV < 2.10 Gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP) Aluminiumgallium indium phosphide (AlGaInP) Gallium(III) phosphide (GaP) Yellow570 < λ < 590 2.10 < ΔV < 2.18 Gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP)Aluminium gallium indium phosphide (AlGaInP) Gallium(III) phosphide(GaP) Green 500 < λ < 570 1.9^([47]) < ΔV < 4.0   Indium gallium nitride(InGaN)/Gallium(III) nitride (GaN) Gallium(III) phosphide (GaP)Aluminium gallium indium phosphide (AlGaInP) Aluminium gallium phosphide(AlGaP) Blue 450 < λ < 500 2.48 < ΔV < 3.7  Zinc selenide (ZnSe) Indiumgallium nitride (InGaN) Silicon carbide (SiC) as substrate Silicon (Si)as substrate - (under development) Violet 400 < λ < 450 2.76 < ΔV < 4.0 Indium gallium nitride (InGaN) Purple multiple types 2.48 < ΔV < 3.7 Dual blue/red LEDs, blue with red phosphor, or white with purple plasticUltraviolet λ < 400 3.1 < ΔV < 4.4 Diamond (235 nm) Boron nitride (215nm) Aluminium nitride (AlN) (210 nm) Aluminium gallium nitride (AlGaN)Aluminium gallium indium nitride (AlGaInN) - (down to 210 nm) Broadspectrum ΔV = 3.5 Blue/UV diode with yellow phosphor

Multi-color LEDs offer not merely another means to form white light, buta new means to form light of different colors. Most perceivable colorsmay be formed by mixing different amounts of three primary colors. Thisallows precise dynamic color control. Using dedicated secondary colorsprovides brighter illumination than from illumination using just thethree colors. With the red, blue and green system, three drivers orthree chips have been typically used—one for driving each of the red,blue, and green LEDs. With LEDs specifically, the LED drivers on themarket today will use an inductor for each driver because they generallyuse switching regulator architectures. Circuits with three chips andthree inductors tend to get large and expensive. In applications such aspico-projectors, the miniaturization of the design and achieving lowercost are primary design factors. By using one driver chip instead ofthree driver chips, the design area and the cost saved by using one chipand one inductor may be increased, often dramatically. In using thedisclosed systems and methods of LED color overlap, to illuminate red,the red LED is driven and turned off; to illuminate green, the green LEDis driven and turned off; to illuminate blue, the blue LED is driven andturned off. But to illuminate yellow, red and green are driven inseries. The driving voltage is then higher to drive the two LEDs inseries. The disclosed systems and methods of LED color overlap may beimplemented with one chip and one inductor to produce red, blue, green,yellow, cyan, magenta, white, etc.—basically, any primary color orsecondary color as well as white. Although this works forpico-projectors, it can be used for other applications as well.

Example embodiments of the disclosed systems and methods of LED coloroverlap enable the use of a single LED driver chip and a single inductorto drive two or more LEDs simultaneously to achieve color overlap. In anexample embodiment, a single switching regulator, for example abuck-boost switching regulator, can drive more than one LED by using sixfield effect transistor (FET) switches, for example. Although abuck-boost regulator is used in example embodiments, other switchingregulators may be used depending on many factors, including the inputvoltage, output voltage, output current, and cost, among others. Linearregulator topologies and other topologies may be implemented as well.The six FET switches may be used to turn on more than one LED in series,in parallel, or in series and parallel such that they are illuminatedsubstantially simultaneously.

Driving LEDs in parallel to create color overlap introduces a potentialissue because not all LEDs are driven with the same voltage. The forwardvoltage (V_(f)) of the red LED does not match the V_(f) of the green LEDor of the blue LED. The red LED semiconductor material is fundamentallydifferent from the semiconductor material for green and blue LEDs, forexample. Typical voltages @350 mA are: red: 2.3V, green: 3.3V, and blue:3.3V.

Thus, in an example embodiment, it is desirable to drive the red LED inseries with the other LEDs as needed to create secondary colors andwhite. Driving the red LED in parallel with blue and/or green may causea mismatch in output voltages. Driving the red LED in series with thegreen LED results in yellow illumination. Driving the red LED in serieswith the blue LED results in magenta illumination.

For creating overlap, the systems and methods of LED color overlapdisclosed herein take advantage of the fact that green and blue LEDshave the same voltage. Thus, green and blue LEDs can be driven inparallel as needed. LED suppliers can screen parts for sufficientlyclose voltage matching between green and blue LEDs. This is especiallytrue when using a green LED die based on a blue die with a greenphosphor. Cyan may be produced by driving a green LED and a blue LED inparallel. White may produced by driving a green LED and a blue LED inparallel and a red LED in series with this green and blue parallel pair.

In an alternative embodiment, to solve the red V_(f) mismatch problem,red illumination may be produced by coating a blue LED semiconductor diewith a red phosphor. In this case all LEDs may be driven in parallel tocreate yellow, cyan, magenta, or white while avoiding the seriesconfiguration. To achieve yellow, a red LED and a green LED are drivenin parallel. To achieve cyan, a green LED and a blue LED are driven inparallel. To achieve magenta, a red LED and a blue LED are driven inparallel. To achieve white, a red LED, a green LED, and a blue LED aredriven in parallel.

An example embodiment employs a “RGBYCMW duty cycle on the fly”algorithm, in which LED duty cycles are set dynamically frame by frame.The LED driving currents may also be adjusted frame by frame and may beset substantially synchronously with color transitions (FET switchtransitions). The disclosed systems and methods of LED color overlap mayalso include programmable currents that change substantiallysynchronously with the FET switch transitions. The same control signalsthat activate the FET switch transitions also activate the synchronouschange of LED current at the start of each color frame.

A switching regulator may be used to drive the LEDs. Selecting aswitching regulator topology is dependent on the input voltages, theoutput voltages, and the output current. In the voltage versus currentcurves for an LED, as with a typical diode, the voltage is a very narrowband, so the current changes dramatically outside of that driving orconduction voltage band. So the LED has to be driven at a fairlyspecific voltage. In an example embodiment, a current sense resistor isused to determine the driving voltage of the LED. If the desired LEDcurrent through the sense resistor is 300 milliamps, the driving voltageof the LED is adjusted until the current resistor is at substantially300 milliamps. In this sense, the switching regulator works like acurrent regulator. So when an LED is driven, the driving current isconsidered rather than the voltage.

Improvements in image brightness can be achieved by operating in atleast on of constant power mode and constant current mode, among others.I constant power mode, the total LED power is held constant, therebyincreasing the LED's quantum efficiency. This mode may typically be usedin a power-constrained application such as a cell phone. In constantcurrent mode, LEDs may be driven at the maximum currents allowed by theLED manufacturer. Color overlap allows the LEDs to be on longer and thusrun at higher power which results in higher brightness. This mode may beused in larger portable projectors that include fans where LED powerconsumption is less critical.

FIG. 1 provides example circuit 100 of the prior art. Circuit 100includes power supply 102 for powering switching regulator 105implemented to drive red LED 110, green LED 115, and blue LED 120. Toilluminate red LED 110, the red strobe signal is turned on. The redstrobe signal turns on the red strobe FETs allowing red LED 110 to beilluminated and the feedback sensed by switching regulator 105 so thatred LED 110 can be driven at the appropriate voltage. The red PWM signalallows for programmable control of the current of red LED 110. This PWMsignal may be used to drive an RC circuit that filters out the PWM ACsignal. The output of the RC circuit is thus a DC level with anegligible ripple. This DC level, when summed with the feedback signal,sets the voltage for the LED as needed to give the desired LED current.Likewise, to illuminate green LED 115, the green strobe signal is turnedon. The green strobe signal turns on the green strobe FETs allowinggreen LED 115 to be illuminated and the feedback sensed by switchingregulator 105 so that green LED 115 can be driven at the appropriatevoltage. To illuminate blue LED 120, the blue strobe signal is turnedon. The blue strobe signal turns on the blue strobe FETs allowing blueLED 120 to be illuminated and the feedback sensed by switching regulator105 so that blue LED 120 can be driven at the appropriate voltage. Thiscircuit is not useful for driving the LEDs in parallel because itinvolves time-sharing of one switching regulator IC for three separatecolors. A problem with this configuration is that the red LED forwardvoltage does not match the forward voltage of the green LED or the blueLED so colors using combinations with red are not effectivelyattainable.

FIG. 2 provides circuit 200 which takes advantage of the similar forwardvoltage of the green LED and the blue LED. Thus the green LED and theblue LED can be driven in parallel as needed and in series with the redLED. LED suppliers can screen parts for sufficiently close voltagematching between the green LEDs and the blue LEDs. This is especiallytrue when using a green LED die based on a blue die with a greenphosphor. A single switching regulator can drive more than one LED byusing a plurality of FET switches. In an example embodiment, 6 switchesare used to configure the LEDs to achieve red, blue, green, cyan,magenta, yellow, and white. The six FET switches may be used to turn onmore than one LED in series, in parallel, or in series and parallel atthe same time. In an alternative embodiment, a red illumination may beachieved using a blue die with a red phosphor. In this case, all LEDsmay be driven in parallel and series driving may be unnecessary.

In the example embodiment of FIG. 2, voltage source 215 powers switchingregulator 217 of module 210. Switching regulator 217 may connect to asingle inductor, for example inductor 235. Switching regulator 217drives three switches 250, 255, and 260. In an example embodiment,switches 250, 255, and 260 are FETs, but could be fabricated in othertechnologies or using other topologies. The outputs of switches 250,255, and 260 may be connected to LEDs 220, 225, and 230, which are red,blue, and green respectively. In an example embodiment, blue LED 225,and green LED 230 are configured in parallel. The parallel pair of blueLED 225 and green LED 230 is configured in series with red LED 220. Inthis example implementation, FETs 265 and 270 are connected in serieswith blue LED 225 and green LED 230, and FET 275 is connected in serieswith red LED 220. FETs 265, 370, and 275 are also in series with currentsensor 280, for example, a current sense resistor. The color to beilluminated is indicated through FET control logic 240. In an exampleembodiment, 3 signal lines are used to configure switches 250, 255, 260,265, 270, and 275. An example embodiment of the LED select signals usedin the circuit of FIG. 2, and the resulting switch settings are listedin Table 2.

TABLE 2 LED Select Signals Resulting Switch Settings Color LED_SEL2LED_SEL1 LED_SEL0 SW1 SW2 SW3 SW4 SW5 SW6 All off 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Red0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 Green 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 Blue 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 Yellow1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 Cyan 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 Magenta 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 White1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1

For example, to achieve a yellow illumination, switches 250, 255, 265,and 270 are open and switches 260 and 275 are closed. This turns ongreen LED 230 and red LED 220 in series to produce yellow. To achieve amagenta illumination, switches 250, 260, 265, and 270 are open andswitches 255 and 275 are closed. This turns on blue LED 225 and red LED220 in series to produce magenta.

In an example embodiment, the current is sensed and compared to thevalue supplied by current control registers 245 which are shown in moredetail in FIG. 3. In an example embodiment, a current mode regulator isused for switching regulator 217. A voltage mode regulator may be usedwith the feedback being supplied by a current sense resistor tovirtually run the voltage mode regulator in current mode.

In the example embodiment of the current control registers provided inFIG. 3, if red, green, and blue are the only colors being used, threeregisters SPI B Reg 310, SPI G Reg 320, and SPI Red Reg 330 may be used.In an RGB system, the current for red is loaded in SPI Red Reg 330, thecurrent for green is loaded in SPI G Reg 320, and the current for blueis loaded in SPI B Reg 310. However, when a secondary color is selected,SPI R Reg 330 becomes a generic register and may be dynamically updated.The output of SPI R Reg 330 loads into Reg 2 350 and then goes tomultiplexer 360. In an example embodiment, software may be used todynamically set the current color by color. The final value, which in anexample embodiment is a 10-bit resolution, to control the LED currentsis present at the output of multiplexer 370. This 10-bit value may befed to a digital to analog converter. The analog output of the digitalto analog converter may serve as a control voltage for setting the LEDcurrent. This control voltage, along with the voltage from feedbacksense signal 480 of FIG. 4, serves to set the output of a voltageregulator to maintain the target current.

In the example embodiment of circuit 400 in FIG. 4, red LED 420, blueLED 425, and green LED 430 are connected in common anode configuration,all three in parallel. In this embodiment, the top switches are not usedand the anodes of the LEDs are each connected to the output of switchingregulator 417 which uses a single inductor, such as inductor 435. Inthis example implementation, FETs 465, 470, and 475 are connected inseries with red LED 420, blue LED 425 and green LED 430, respectively.FETs 465, 470, and 475 are also in series with current sensor 480, forexample, a current sense resistor. The color to be illuminated isindicated through FET control logic 440. In an example embodiment, 3signal lines are used to configure switches 465, 470, and 475. Anexample embodiment of the LED select signals used in the circuit of FIG.4, and the resulting switch settings are listed in Table 3.

TABLE 3 LED Select Signals Resulting Switch Settings Color LED_SEL2LED_SEL1 LED_SEL0 SW1 SW2 SW3 SW4 SW5 SW6 All off 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Red0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 Green 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Blue 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 Yellow1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 Cyan 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 Magenta 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 White1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1

For example, to achieve a yellow illumination, switch 470 is open andswitches 465 and 475 are closed. This turns on green LED 430 and red LED420 in parallel to produce yellow. To achieve a magenta illumination,switch 475 is open and switches 465 and 470 are closed. This turns onblue LED 425 and red LED 420 in parallel to produce magenta. The currentis again set using the circuit of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 provides flow diagram 500 of an example embodiment of a method ofLED color overlap. In block 510, a signal is received that selects acolor to be illuminated. In block 520, switches are set to configure theLEDs to achieve the selected color. In block 530, the current is set todrive the selected LEDs.

Although the present disclosure has been described in detail, it shouldbe understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can bemade thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of thedisclosure as defined by the appended claims. For example, the disclosedmethods and systems may be used in laser applications as well. Thesystem may be configured in substantially the same manner, except thatthe laser materials and voltages may be different.

Therefore, at least the following is claimed:
 1. A device comprising: acontroller configured to control a switching regulator; wherein thecontroller is configured to be connected to a single inductor andconfigured to be connected to a plurality of light emitting diodes(LEDs), and wherein the plurality of LEDs include a first LED configuredin parallel with a second LED, the first LED and second LED configuredin series with a third LED, the plurality of LEDs to emit a plurality ofindividual colors; wherein the controller is further configured to driveat least two of the plurality of LEDs simultaneously to achieve a colornot supplied by an individual LED of the plurality of LEDs; wherein thecontroller is configured to compare a first current value through the atleast two of the plurality of LEDs with a second current value; whereinthe controller includes at least one current control register; andwherein the controller is configured to store the second current valuein the at least one current control register.
 2. The device of claim 1,wherein the controller includes the switching regulator configured tosupply power to the plurality of LEDs.
 3. The device of claim 2, whereinthe controller includes: a plurality of field effect transistors (FETs)configured to select the at least two of the plurality of LEDs; FETcontrol logic to control switching of the FETs; the current controlregister for controlling the first current value through the at leasttwo of the plurality of LEDs; and a current sense resistor configured tosense the first current value through the at least two of the pluralityof LEDs.
 4. The device of claim 2, wherein the first LED is a green LED,wherein the second LED is a blue LED, and wherein the third LED is a redLED.
 5. The device of claim 1, further including: a first switchconnected in series between a power source and the first LED; a secondswitch connected in series between the power source and the second LED;a third switch connected in series between the power source and thethird LED; a fourth switch connected between the third switch andground; and a fifth switch connected between the third LED and ground.6. The device of claim 5, further including a current sense resistorconnected between the fifth switch and ground and between the fourthswitch and ground.
 7. A method, comprising: receiving a signal thatselects a color; configuring a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs)to be driven in combination simultaneously to achieve a selected color,wherein the plurality of LEDs includes a first LED configured inparallel with a second LED, the first LED and second LED configured inseries with a third LED; driving the plurality of LEDs with a singleswitching regulator connected to a single inductor; and comparing afirst current value through the plurality of LEDs with a second currentvalue to be stored in a current control register.
 8. The method of claim7, wherein the first LED is a blue LED, wherein the second LED is agreen LED, and wherein the third LED is a red LED.
 9. The method ofclaim 8, further including driving the third LED and first LEDsimultaneously to create yellow.
 10. The method of claim 7, furtherincluding sensing the first current value through the plurality of LEDsand controlling the first current value through the plurality of LEDs tomaintain a constant current.
 11. A projector comprising: a plurality oflight emitting diodes (LEDs), wherein the plurality of LEDs include afirst LED configured in parallel with a second LED, and wherein thefirst LED and second LED configured are series with a third LED; and acontroller configured to control a switching regulator, to be connectedto a single inductor, and to be connected to the plurality of LEDs, theplurality of LEDs emitting a plurality of individual colors, thecontroller further configured to drive at least two of the plurality ofLEDs simultaneously to achieve a color not supplied by an individual LEDof the plurality of LEDs, wherein the controller is configured tocompare a first current value through the at least two of the pluralityof LEDs with a second current value, wherein the controller includes atleast one current control register, and wherein the controller isconfigured to store the second current value in the at least one currentcontrol register.
 12. The projector of claim 11, wherein the controllerincludes the switching regulator configured to supply power to theplurality of LEDs.
 13. The projector of claim 11, wherein the controllerincludes: a plurality of field effect transistors (FETs) configured toselect the at least two of the plurality of LEDs; FET control logic tocontrol switching of the FETs; the current control register forcontrolling the first current value through the at least two of theplurality of LEDs; and a current sense resistor configured to sense thefirst current value through the at least two of the plurality of LEDs.14. The projector of claim 11, wherein the first LED is a green LED,wherein the second LED is a blue LED, and wherein the third LED is a redLED.
 15. The projector of claim 14, further including: a first switchconnected in series between a power source and the first LED; a secondswitch connected in series between the power source and the second LED;a third switch connected in series between the power source and thethird LED; a fourth switch connected between the third switch andground; and a fifth switch connected between the third LED and ground.